This application relates generally to bottled beverage supply systems and more particularly to a bottled beverage supply system that pumps beverage to a reservoir, which in turn supplies the beverage to a dispenser.
Due to high levels of impurities found in many domestic water supplies, a substantial number of households and offices prefer not to use their domestic water supplies as a source of drinking water, when making ice, or when making coffee or the like. As a consequence, such households frequently purchase bottled water for such uses. While there are numerous devices for dispensing bottled water and other bottled beverages for drinking purposes, it is considerably more difficult to supply bottled water to the icemaker or chilled water dispenser of a refrigerator. Typically, a water supply line for a refrigerator is connected directly to the domestic water supply, perhaps with a filter installed between them. Thus, if bottled water is to be supplied to a refrigerator, it should be supplied under a pressure comparable to that of the domestic water supply system.
Prior devices for supplying pressurized bottled water to a refrigerator or other water dispenser have not proven to be commercially viable. For example, some such systems have often required activation of a pump each time water is supplied to the dispenser. Thus, each time a user gets water from a refrigerator or otherwise uses the water supply, the pump is activated. This is both an annoyance to the user and a waste of energy. Other systems have required the use of a dip leg and its attendant inefficiencies, such as wasted water.
Accordingly there is a need for a reliable and convenient system for supplying water or other beverages from a bottle to a dispenser, such as a refrigerator. The present invention provides a solution to this and other problems, and offers other advantages over the prior art.
Against this backdrop the present invention has been developed. An embodiment of the present invention is a beverage supply system. The system includes a beverage container having a bottom outlet. A first reservoir is connected to the beverage container outlet to receive beverage from the beverage container under force of gravity. A pump is connected to the first reservoir, and a second reservoir is connected to the pump, the second reservoir defining an expandable beverage chamber. The pump is activated to pump beverage from the first reservoir to the second reservoir only when a first quantity of beverage in the first reservoir is within a first quantity range and a second quantity of beverage in the second reservoir is below a second quantity range. The system also includes a beverage dispenser connected to the second reservoir.
Stated another way, an embodiment of the present invention is a beverage supply system that includes a first reservoir adapted to receive beverage from a beverage container under force of gravity within a first quantity range. The system also includes a pump connected to the first reservoir, and a second reservoir connected to the pump. The second reservoir includes a solid barrier adapted to press against a second quantity of beverage within the second reservoir as the second quantity of beverage within the second reservoir displaces the barrier to produce a pressure. The second reservoir is adapted to supply beverage to a beverage dispenser without the pump being operated. The pump is activated to pump beverage from the first reservoir to the second reservoir only when a first quantity of beverage in the first reservoir is within the first quantity range and a second quantity of beverage in the second reservoir is below a second quantity range.
Stated yet another way, an embodiment of the present invention is a method of supplying beverage from a beverage container to a beverage dispenser. The method includes supplying beverage from a beverage container to a first reservoir. The method also includes pumping the beverage from the first reservoir to an expandable pressurized chamber of a second reservoir when a first quantity of beverage in the first reservoir is within a first quantity range and a second quantity of beverage in the second reservoir is below a second quantity range. The method additionally includes intermittently connecting the pressurized chamber to an outlet of a beverage dispenser to supply beverage from the second reservoir to the beverage dispenser without pumping the beverage from the second reservoir to the beverage dispenser.